Air-lift pump



C. P, RINGLER. AIR L'IFT PUMP.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 7, 1919.

Patented Jan. 11, 1921;

rrafiwE ARL * UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE;

COMPANY, OFNEW YORK i To all whom it may ooncemi' j 1 Be it known that I, CHnnLris-P. RIN LER,

a citizen of the United States, residing in- Elmhurst, L. 1., in theState of New York, have invented certainnew and'useful Im provemen'ts in Air-Lift Pumps, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawingjforming' 7 a part hereof.

In air-lift pumps f .the type to which this invention relates water is admitted to, the

working or intake chamber, through a lower ing chamber or intake chamber nearly to the lower end thereof. admittedto the upper end of the working chamber, whereby the water in the working chamber is forced upward through the 'eduction' pipe and charge valve until the 'watr level in the through the upper or disworking chamber is depressed to the level of the discharge outlet.

" point slightly over-balances the hydrostatic head of the discharge column" and a bubble of airventers the eduction'or-discharge pipe,

ascends therein and carries before it a body of water. -In its passage through the dis charge chamber and water also becomesmixed with more or less of the entrained air, so that the specific gravity of a given volume of the mixtureis less than that of the same volume of water alone, and thereby the upward movement of the water in the discharge pipe is promoted. the sudden discharge of air from the working chamber and: water I discharge outlet, the pressure in through the l the workin chamberialls quickly to a point below the ydrostatic pressure in the well and'fthe working chamber therefore fills again quickly f through the intake valve. The alternate discharges and re-fillings of the working chamber follow "in such rapid ,fsuccessi'on, 1n a well designed installation,

hthatthel discharge atthe. upper end of the discharge-pipe is nearl constant, with but slight *intermissions. pumps of this character, as heretofore constructed. the capacity is limited by theavail able..intake area of the intake valve. By increasing the velocityof discharge .of'the' Specification of Iletters Patent.

and air under pressure is .The pressure at this ischarge valve) the" n the operation of.

' hm-LIFT PUMP.

Patented J an. 11, 1921.

. Application filed Npvember 7, 1919. Serial No. 336,347.

water and air from the discharge chamber, through'ia suitable nozzle a reduction of pressure can be effected-within the discharge pipe below the "point of highestivelocity, that is below the reducing nozzle, .and by making openings throughthe discharge pipe at this point water will jfiow i'n from the well, and, ,mixing with the air-charged water which issues from the nozzle, will be carriedeupward therewith through the'dis-'- 1?.- RING-LE3, 0F EL'MEUBST, NEW' YORK, ASSIGNOR '10 NEPTUNE METER I N. Y., CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

charge pipe, the capacity of the pump being I the construction of pumps which operate in thus considerably increased over that of the pump as ordinarily constructed. The pres:

ent invention has for-its object to improve" the manner just described so that the maxi mum of efiiciency can .be attained. The invention will be more fully explained hereinafter with reference to .the accompanying drawing in which itis illustrated and in which-- I Figure '1 is a-view partly in section, showing so much of,an air-lift apparatus, installed in a well, as is necessary to, enable the invention to be understood.

Fig. 2 is 'a detail view'in section, on a larger scale, of 'that'portion of the pump with "which. the invention is particularly concerned.

In the drawing the well a, of any required depth, is'shown as having ,thewell-head 6. Within the well is suitably supported the vertical discharge pipe 0, which is suitably connected at its upper end, within the wellhead b, with a horizontal discharge pipe d. The upper end of the discharge pipe 0 is closed by a cap or head e through which-an air supply pipe 7, connected to any suitable .supply of air under pressure, is extended downward within the discharge pipe 0. At

its'lower-end the discharge pipe 0 has 'secured thereto the tubular section 9 in which the invention'is mainly embodied, such tu bular' section 9 having an internally ta- "pered nozzle. .g and openings 9 through the outer-wall into the space surrounding and below the upper end of the. nozzle 9. For convenience in manufacture this nozzle section g-flmay be 'formed independently of the workingchamber 'h and be secured thereto in any suitable manner and it may also have the partial transverse wall 9 into which the lower end of the air pipe 7 may be secured that air maybe delivered to the upper end of the working chamber l andmay be provided with a passage through which the air and water may be dischar ed from the nearly to the intake valve, all as usual and asplainly shown in Fig. 1.

In operation of the improved pump, constructed as described, the water of the well surrounding the working chamber and more or less of the discharge pipe, enters the,

working chamber through the valve h an, der the hydrostatic head, due to the height of the water in the well above the working chamber. The air, under pressure-admitted through the air pipe f to the .HItGIlOI' of the working chamber, drives the water in the working chamber up through the discharge 4 chamber h depressing the level of the water in the working chamber as it reaches the lower end of the discharge chamber h, when the air rushes upward through the discharge pipe, driving the water ahead ofit and mingling more or less with the water in the working chamber and as the two ass to; gether through the discharge pipe. ythis sudden rush of air the pressure within the working chamber is reduced below the hydrostatic pressure of the water in the well and the working chamber is again filled with water through the intake valve. These op erations succeed one another with great rapidity so that there is practically a continuous stream of water passing upward through the discharge valve h through the throat or passage 9 and through 'thenozzle g, the volume of water depending primarily upon the available intake area through the.

valve 7; and also upon the available areaof the discharge pipe h and the available area of the discharge valve 72?. The water which passes through the discharge valve is more:

or less mixed with air. As the water or-the nozzle g the velocity of the stream is conspace about the nozzle and below its upper 'tion, whic through the openings gt the space about the benj mixture of an and water passes through the magma sure of the Water inthe well at that level. Therefore,-the water in the'well, outside of the workin chamber and the tubular secl includes the nozzle, enters nozzle and is drawn upward by the action of the stream which issues from the nozzle so thatit is mixed with the water or with the P mixture of air and water which issues from the nozzle and is carried upward through the discharge pipe 0. The water which is ,thus added to the upwardly moving column within the discharge pipe is additional to that which is admitted to theworking chamber through the intake valve and the capacity of the pump'is therefore increased by such additional volume.

7 WVhether the tubular induction section 9 is located immediately above the working chamber or at. a distance above the same, the air supply pipe is extended downward centrallythrough the nozzle g, thereby reduc- '.end is reduced below the hydrostatic presing the area and increasing the velocity of flow and at the same time-avoiding the reduction of diameter of-the section 9 which would be necessary the air supply pipe were external to tion. It will be understood that the design of the parts of apparatus which embody the invention may be varied to suit difi'erent I the nozzle and tubular secconditions of use and that the invention is i not limited to the precise construction shown and describe'dherein, except as pointed out in the claim. v v I claim as my invention:

A working chamber'havin'g at its upper end-an opening for the upward passage of a column of air'and water, a tubular section connected at its lower end to the working chamber and hav ng an opening through its "side wall, a tapered nozzle within said section and secured thereto below said opening, a discharge pipe connected to the upper end of said-section, and an air supply pipe extended downward centrally through said tapered nozzle andconnected to "the Working Thisspec ification signed this 31st day of.

jlQctobenlt. 111 919. sldembly as d and the pressure in the.

. CHARLES PQ RINGLER; 

